Constance Marten trial: baby wore only a nappy on freezing night, court hears

A newborn baby was wearing no clothing and only a nappy as her parents took a long taxi ride allegedly to evade authorities in freezing winter conditions, a jury at the Old Bailey has heard.

Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, who were allegedly motivated by a “selfish” desire to keep their daughter Victoria after four other children were taken into care, paid hundreds of pounds in taxi fares after their Peugeot 206 caught fire on the M61 on 5 January 2023.

Police attended the fire and discovered a placenta wrapped in a towel and the couple’s possessions nearby. Marten and Gordon had already fled, taking a taxi from Bolton to Liverpool and then another to Harwich in Essex, arriving at 2.30am the following day, the court heard.